The
transmission on 9875 kHz to Eastern Asia has been discontinued due to the low modulation of the signal and the transmission on 11580 kHz to western Europe is being discontinued due to poor signal in the target area.

MORE NEWS: Global Forever stamps...BUT These are in imperf -
no die cut sheets of 10, a bit of a challenge to separate them with scissors or
exacto knife for use as postage, but it's possible. They are more of a collector
type format---perfectly valid for postal use tho. I can offer them 10 sheets of
10 (100 stamps) at $100 ppd. If you collect this format, that
lasted a few yrs 2012-2016, I have other sheets and imperf singles grouped by
year. Let me know for more info.

HAMFEST NEWS: I will have an inside table at SUSSEX CO. HAMFEST in Augusta, NJ
on Sunday, July 14th. Will have DX envelopes, QSL albums and pages PLUS large
asst. of fountain pens and mechanical pencils.

FLEA MARKET: I will have a table at Hillsborough Municipal Bldg, 379 S.
Branch Rd. in Hillsborough, NJ on June 10th, 9am-3pm. Bringing fountain pens and
mechanical pencils.

NEW RATES: Isle of Man increased to 1,30 middle of May,
Guernsey now 80p for 20g, Jersey now 90p for 100g

NEW PRICES:

IN STOCK AGAIN: Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova.

STAMPS ON BACK ORDER: PR China, Saudi Arabia

U.S. DISCOUNT POSTAGE DEALS!!

Save Big on your domestic mailings
when you plaster

your envelope
with colorful
vintage stamps!

HAPPY
MAILING!!

49c units

Forever

in 2 stamps

3 stamps

4 stamps

x 100

$45.00

xxxx

$41.00

$40.00

x 200

$85.00

$65.00

$63.00

$62.00

x 500

$208.00

xxxx

$157.00

$157.00

Payment by Credit card, check or money
order

for forever stamps and 49c
units

No Charge
for posting Discount Postage Offers, sending only to USA
addresses.

JUNE 2017 DX STAMP
SPECIALS

2 Germany-$2.60 2 Russia-$2.60 3 Japan-$3.90

2 Italy-$7.00 2 UK-$3.00 2 France-$3.60 5
Spain-$10.00

JUNE 2017 DX SUPPLY
SPECIALS

200/200 European Plain Mailers and Plain Returns
- $40.00

200/200 European Air Mailers and Plain Returns -
$40.00

200/200 STATESIDE Mailers and Returns - $22.00

European AIR Returns are SOLD OUT!!

BIG
TIME SPECIALS

500/500 European AIR Mailers and Plain Returns - $90.00

500/500 European Plain Mailers and Plain Returns -
$90.00

500/500 Stateside mailers and Returns - $50.00

2 Deluxe QSL Albums - $70.00

2 Deluxe QSL Albums Slightly damaged - $55.00

Priority Mail Shipping Rates: Orders up
to $40.00 add $9.00, orders from $41.00 to $100.00 add $15.00. orders from
$101.00 to $150.00 add $20.00, orders over $150.00 add 15%. When ordering
supplies and stamps, the stamps ride free, just use supply total to figure
shipping costs. Shipments to Canada and overseas ship at a greater cost.
(07/2015 modified)

Stamps Only Orders: Just add $1.00 P&H for
posting to USA, add $2.00 for posting to Canada.

Soon
after the BBC began work on the construction of their new East Asia Relay
Station in the isolated jungle area of the New Territories of Hong Kong, they
also began planning for another new relay station somewhere else in the Asian
arena. The BBC East Asia Relay Station
at Tsang Tsui in the far west of the New Territories with its two shortwave
transmitters at 250 kW was taken into full service on September 27, 1987.

At that time, active planning for
this another shortwave station was underway, and serious consideration was
given to several different sites in the country areas of the Asian Kingdom of
Thailand. In the original planning,
the projected new shortwave station in Thailand was intended to be a joint
project between the BBC in London and Radio Netherlands in Hilversum Holland
for major coverage into the Indian sub-continent. Interestingly, the ABC and Radio Australia in
Melbourne Australia also demonstrated an interest in a shortwave relay station
in Thailand during that same era.

However, in October 1990, Radio
Netherlands announced that it was withdrawing from the shortwave project in
Thailand, due to what it considered to be exorbitant costs for installation and
operation. Initially, the BBC estimated
that the station would cost $17 million to build, with an additional $3½ million as an annual budget for
operation, though subsequent reality demonstrated that the final cost for
construction together with grants to the Thai government was more than double
the original estimate. It would be
presumed that Radio Australia faced the same financial problem, as they made no
progress in this direction.

Three
years later (1993), the BBC enlarged their planning for the Thailand project
when it became evident that their new station in Hong Kong would indeed need to
be closed and demolished before the British territory of Hong Kong was
officially handed over to China. Thus
the planned target coverage for the new
Thai station was considerably increased, from coverage into the countries surrounding
the Indian sub-continent, to now include all of the countries of Asia and the
Far East. Interestingly at that stage
(1993), Radio Australia again evinced an interest in a shortwave relay station
in Thailand.

In the second quarter of the year 1994,
the Thai government offered the BBC the choice of any of five different country
locations, all of which were thoroughly investigated prior to the final
decision. Ultimately, the final choice rested upon a compact site in the shape
of a large capital letter T in central Thailand 150 miles north of
Bangkok. The transmitter site is located
in a wetland area next to a small lake, some eight miles north of the small
provincial town Nakhon Sawan.

Work at this new BBC shortwave
station, with its four transmitters at 250 kW and thirteen antenna systems,
began in August 1994. On May 8 of the
following year (1995), a special ground breaking ceremony was conducted on the
site, with participation by representatives from BBC management and from the
Thai government. A crowd of people from
the surrounding villages also attended this grand local event.

Test transmissions began during the
following year (1996), followed by the gradual transfer of programming from the
BBC East Asia Relay Station in Hong Kong to the new BBC Asia Relay Station in
Thailand. At that stage, two new
Thomcast transmitters from France, Model TSW2250, had already been installed,
together with many of the antenna systems.

On November 18 (1996), the new
station in Thailand assumed the full load of programming from the station in
Hong Kong, though Hong Kong remained in standby mode for nearly three weeks,
until December 6. Then it was that the
two transmitters at 250 kW in Hong Kong, Marconi Model B131, were removed and
prepared for shipment to Thailand, where they were installed and activated very
early in the new year 1997.

Later in that same year (1997), on
October 29 to be exact, this new BBC Asia Relay Station in Thailand was
officially opened by His Royal Highness Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh,
during a royal tour of several Asian countries with Her Majesty Queen
Elizabeth.

During the year 2001, an additional
250 kW shortwave transmitter was installed together with an additional antenna
system. This new electronic equipment
passed acceptance tests in October, after which it was all taken into regular
service. In April 2009, the BBC Asia
Relay Station was off the air for a few days due to a local flooding emergency.

Then it was, at the end of the
broadcast day on December 31, 2016, that this important and very successful BBC
relay station was switched off, quietly and without any fanfare or advance
notice, for what has now become the last time.
Due to the failure of negotiations between the BBC and the Thai
government, the broadcast license was not renewed, and the BBC subsequently
announced the permanent closure of the station anyway, due to the very high
financial costs.

At the time of closure, this BBC
Asia Relay Station at Nakhon Sawan in central Thailand was operated under contract
with Babcock Media Services, and it contained five shortwave transmitters at
250 kW, thirteen curtain antennas.and four shorter antenna masts. We ask the question: What will ultimately
happen to this station, and what will happen to all of this expensive
electronic equipment? Will it be removed
and re-installed elsewhere? Who knows!

What we do know, is that those
international radio monitors who successfully received one of the readily
available QSL cards from this BBC Asia Relay Station in Nakhon Thailand, are
holding a nice piece of radio history that is no longer available.

In
an unexpected and almost dramatic move, a commercially operated mediumwave
radio broadcasting station in Australia has been granted a license to relay its
programming in parallel over a separate shortwave transmitter. This move on the part of a commercial
broadcasting station in Australia is in stark contra-distinction to the closure
in recent years by the ABC and Radio Australia of their entire network of
shortwave stations throughout the island continent.The manager of mediumwave station 4KZ in Innisfail
North Queensland, announces that his new shortwave transmitter will be
inaugurated during this month of May and it will carry parallel programming to
the underpopulated areas of the outback in the northern areas of the peninsula
and the gulf.

In comparatively recent times, a few
low powered shortwave stations have been inaugurated in Australia, though they
generally function as hobby stations on a spasmodic basis. Then too, in the pre-World War II era, a significant
number of amateur radio stations in Australia did broadcast their own locally
produced programming on shortwave, on very inconsistent scheduling. On a few notable occasions in early times,
the station engineer of a fully licensed radio broadcasting station would relay
the programming from his mediumwave station over his own amateur transmitter,
and as time went by, this amateur operation grew into a full powered shortwave
broadcasting station.

However, a specifically planned
shortwave function to extend the coverage area of a commercially operated
mediumwave station in Australia is very rare, and it has occurred previously
only three times in the past almost one hundred years. Let’s
take a look at this story, with all events in chronological order, and we will
begin with two projected stations that were never installed.

Back
in the year 1925, a political party, the Labour Party, announced plans to
establish its own mediumwave station in Sydney, Australia’s largest city. Three projected callsigns for this new
broadcasting station were considered, 2IC, 2TH and 2LC, though when the station
was inaugurated, the official callsign was 2KY, which is still on the air to
this day.

The new 2KY was official inaugurated
in the Trades Hall at 4 Goulburn Street in Sydney on October 31,1925. During one of the many opening speeches,
Chief Engineer Ernest Beard stated that arrangements were being made to install
an additional transmitter, on shortwave, for wide area coverage. However, due to political differences, no
license was granted for this planned parallel operation on shortwave by 2KY.

Three years later in May 1928,
another commercial radio station in Australia applied for a shortwave license
and they requested 5 kW on 70 or 80 metres for coverage into widespread country
areas in the center of the Australian continent. This commercial station was 5CL with new
studios in Hindmarsh Square Adelaide, and a new 5 kW mediumwave transmitter at
Brooklyn Park.

However, at the same time as 5CL in
Adelaide was denied a shortwave service, mediumwave 3UZ in Melbourne was
developing its own parallel shortwave service.
(Seven years later, 5CL was taken over as the South Australian
headquarters of the newly formed government owned ABC network.)

Now we come to the story of the four
occasions when a commercial mediumwave station in Australia was successfully
granted a license for a supplementary shortwave transmitter, and first up is
the aforementioned 3UZ in Melbourne.

In April 1928, Engineer L. C. Glew
with the commercial station 3UZ in Melbourne Victoria began a shortwave relay
over his own amateur transmitter in his suburban home. This procedure was a rather common practice
in both the United States and Australia back during that era.

Give two more years, and Engineer
Glew completed the construction of an additional shortwave transmitter which
this time he installed alongside the mediumwave transmitter at their studios in
45 Bourke Street in downtown Melbourne.
The original power from this new shortwave transmitter was 120 watts,
though it was subsequently increased to 500 watts. Their program relay was heard on 32 metres,
approximately 9725 kHz.

Interestingly, the well known Adelaide commercial
station, 5AD, organized its own pre-war DX radio club, and they were on the air
generally on Sundays with special programming for shortwave listeners. Initially in 1934, these special programs
were broadcast over the suburban amateur station VK5WB, though soon afterwards
the 5AD Radio Club obtained its own shortwave license and transmitter, and they
were on the air under the experimental callsign VK5DI.

Shortwave station VK5DI was
inaugurated during the year 1935 and they were on the air usually in two
different sessions on Sundays, initially in the 40 metre amateur band, though
in later years, sometimes also in the 20 metre band. The
shortwave broadcasts from 5DI were heard throughout Australia and New Zealand,
and occasionally even in the United States.

This
station also used the call of the Kookaburra bird as part of its sign on
routine, as did several other shortwave stations in Australia back during that
era. The last known broadcast from
special shortwave station 5DI was made on Sunday August 13, 1939; and during
the early part of World War 2, the small shortwave transmitter was held for
safekeeping in the city newspaper office, where
it was open to public view.

Programming
for the 5DI shortwave broadcasts on Sundays was always presented live, and it
was usually compiled from some of the highlights of the broadcasts from
mediumwave 5AD during the previous week.
Reception reports to VK5DI were verified with their own specific QSL
card, though none of these cards has ever surfaced during the past many years.

According
to the available news releases, the new commercial shortwave service from 4KZ
at Innisfail in North Queensland is scheduled for introduction during this
month of May (2017). The suggested
operating hours are from 4:00 pm to 9:00 am daily with 1½ kW on 5055 kHz. The antenna system is an inverted V, beamed a
little to the northwest.

Innisfail is a small coastal city
with a population of some 30,000 people.
The main industries are tourism, rare tropical fruits and sugar. The annual production of bananas is 9,000
tons, and the annual production of sugar cane is 3.1 million tons. Australia’s
largest sugar mill, the Victoria Mill, is located at nearby Ingham.

Radio station 4KZ was inaugurated in
Innisfail in September 1967 with 5 kW on 531 kHz, though the power has since
been increased to 10 kW. These days,
there are five radio stations in the North Queensland Radio Group; 4KZ and its
four sister stations together with eight
low power translator stations, making up a combined total of 20 mediumwave and
FM transmitters. This radio aggregate
provides widespread coverage to the Cape York Peninsula and the areas adjoining
the Gulf of Carpentaria. The current
manager for the 4KZ stations is Al Kirton, who himself is also an amateur radio
operator with the Queensland callsign VK4FFKZ.

The
April edition of the New Zealand DX Times contains the almost startling
information that a new shortwave station is under construction in the United
States. This new station is owned by the
International Fellowship of Churches, it is located near the town of Beowawe in
the state of Nevada, and it is licensed under the callsign KIMF.

Interestingly, a dozen years ago,
there was another projected shortwave station with the same callsign, though it
was planned for a different location. We
pick up this interesting information in our program today; so, let’s go back to the beginning.

The authoritative World Radio
Handbook for the year 2003 contains a brief entry for a projected new shortwave
station, with the callsign KIMF. This
new station would be located near Pinon in the American state of New Mexico,
and it would contain one shortwave transmitter at 50 kW with two registered
frequencies, 5835 kHz and 11885 kHz. The original plan showed that the new
station would be launched in late 2003 or early 2004.

The small town of Pinon with a
population of considerably less than 100 people, is located in the south of the
state of New Mexico approximately half way between the Arizona (west) and Texas
(east) state lines. The owner and
president for this new station was James Planck, and the postal address at that
time was in Rancho Cucamonga in suburban Los Angeles in California.

This brief information about the new
KIMF was contained in the World Radio TV Handbook for four consecutive years,
running from 2003 to 2006. Neither of
the volumes of the WRTVHB for 2002 (before) nor 2007 (after) made any mention
of shortwave station KIMF.

Thus, no further information
anywhere would seem to indicate that the projected new shortwave station KIMF
had quietly come to an end. However,
with the very recent surprising information from New Zealand in April, the
story of the American shortwave station KIMF is re-opened. Subsequent reports on the internet affirm the
accuracy of the current information about this new shortwave station.

Interestingly, during the year 2015,
James Planck began a four hour daily program relay with KVOH that was on the
air each evening. Then, last year, he
ended his broadcasts over KOH with the intent of establishing his own shortwave
station.

The new location for KIMF is just
half a dozen miles due west of another small town, Beowawe in Nevada. This town, with its hot springs geo-thermal
electricity generating plant, has a population of also considerably less than
100 people.

The generally flat station property
is located on the north side of the winding country road, six miles west of
Beowawe town. Photos of the general area
show that it is rather hilly with very little natural growth.

The wooden transmitter building is
already constructed and some of the electronic equipment is already
installed. At least one antenna system
has already been erected. The intended
coverage for this new shortwave station is said to be Latin America and Asia.

When this new shortwave station is
fully operational, it will contain two shortwave transmitters; a Harris 50 kW
and another that is listed as a PTS transmitter at 100 kW. Plans are in hand for the erection of a total
of four diamond shaped three-wire rhombics.
Registered shortwave channels for this station are given as 6065 9300
and 13570 kHz.

The International Fellowship of
Churches, under the same president James Planck, states on their website that
they plan to erect additional medium wave and shortwave stations at strategic
locations in order to obtain worldwide coverage. They already operate a medium wave station in
the Central American country of Honduras, station HREZ in the twin city
Comayaguela, with 1 kW on 1490 kHz. The
operating organization in Honduras is listed as International Missionary
Fellowship, with the initial letters IMF, hence their American call sign KIMF.

Their website also states that a
shortwave station that is co-sited with their medium wave facility in Honduras
is already on the air. Several years
ago, that was true and it operated on 3340 and 5010 kHz. However, more recently their shortwave
counterpart fell silent, so it would seem that they are planning to reactivate
their shortwave transmitters in Honduras some time soon.

Programming for the new American
shortwave station will be produced in a studio in Los Angeles with a program
feed by satellite to the transmitter facility.
Their current postal address is 9102 Reserve Drive, Corona CA 92883.

Apparently, their new shortwave
station KIMF near Beowawe in Nevada will be activated some time quite
soon. Our question then would be: Who
will be the first international radio monitor to hear this new shortwave
station on his own radio receiver?

Monday, May 29, 2017

We have just returned from Cubadisco 2017, Cuba's most
important music awards program, with the best new Cuban music and a lot of new
interviews. We will begin broadcasting this wonderful new content June
4.
Meanwhile, this week is a replay of an early 2016 episode featuring
members of Conjunto Chappottin, one of Cuba’s most historically important
conjuntos. We will also feature a highly varied mix of other Cuban music
genres.
Four opportunities to listen on shortwave:

Uncle Bill's Melting Pot,a musical variety program that
features everything from everywhere plus bits of comedy and other weirdness now
and then, will air on WBCQ the Planet, 7490 KHz, Thursday, June 1 from 2300-2330
UTC (7:00pm-7:30pm EDT in the Americas). This week wanders the continents a
bit.

Tuesday, May 23, 2017

Recent
news reports in the international radio world inform us that the small European
country of Albania finally closed its remaining medium wave and shortwave
stations earlier this year. Thus in
Albania, all radio broadcasting stations throughout the country, numbering one
hundred or more government and commercial stations, are now concentrated into
the standard FM Band 2.However, Radio
Tirana shortwave is still on the air, via a new relay with the large American
commercial shortwave station WRMI in Okeechobee Florida.

In our program today, we present our
third episode about the radio story in Albania, and on this occasion, we begin
with the historic era of ancient times.

Way back in the times of antiquity,
the territory now known as Albania was traversed and settled by wandering
tribal peoples coming in from the east.
Then next on the scene came the ancient Roman Empire, and they conquered
and annexed Albania.

Albanian history informs us that a
colony of some 70 Christian families was established in the coastal town of
Durres through the original ministry of St Paul in New Testament times; and two
hundred years later, the entire territory was established in Christianity. Islam came to Albania five hundred years
later again.

Politically speaking, the Kingdom of
Albania was established in the year 1272, though two hundred years later again,
the Ottoman Empire from Turkey took over the country. In 1912, Albania declared its independence
again, as a revived kingdom; in 1939 it was taken over by Italy; four years
later it was taken over by Germany; and after the end of World War 2, the
country was formed into a socialist republic.
In 1991, Albania officially became a republic.

It was in April 1939 that Italy
occupied Albania, and at that stage, there were just three broadcast
transmitters on the air. On mediumwave,
Radio Tirana I (One) was noted with 10 watts on 1384 kHz with studios and
transmitter in the Municipality Building on Rruga 28 Nentori in Tirana.

On shortwave, their scheduling, if
listed correctly, showed two transmitters on the air in parallel, 6080 kHz and 7840 kHz, under the callsign
ZAA. These transmitters were originally
installed in 1937 for the purpose of international radio communication in Morse
Code, rather than for program broadcasting.
Their shortwave equipment was manufactured by Tesla in Prague
Czechoslovakia; and their transmitter base was located at Laprake, in the
military encampment on the edge of suburban Tirana, we would suggest.

In
July 1939, a few months after the Italian occupation, shortwave ZAA was heard
in the South Pacific closing with the Italian National Anthem. Interestingly, the callsign ZAA was retained,
in spite of the fact that some had suggested earlier that maybe the callsign
would be changed to an Italian call beginning with the letter I (eye).

Around
that same time under the Italian occupation, an additional medium wave
transmitter was co-installed in the Municipality Building. This new unit was originally listed with a
power of 1 kW, though apparently it was operated at only one quarter of that
power level. The new transmitter took
over the programming and frequency of Tirana I on 1384 kHz, and the older 10
watt transmitter was moved to 1290 kHz as Tirana II (Two).

After
about a year of Italian occupation, or perhaps a little less, Radio Tirana was
no longer reported as active on shortwave.
The final known listing was in August 1940, when Arthur Cushen in South
New Zealand noted the station on 7850 kHz.
Apparently station ZAA as a program broadcaster lay
silent for the remainder of the European Conflict.

When
peace finally began to descend upon continental Europe again, Radio Tirana ZAA
was noted on the air once more, and on the same shortwave channel 7850 kHz
according to Arthur Cushen again. That
was early in the year 1946. Apparently
the original old Tesla equipment had been revived.

Interestingly,
all programming at this stage was in the Italian language, in spite of the fact
that German forces had replaced the Italians two years earlier.

Solar activity was very low throughout the reporting period. Region 2659 (N14, L=038, class/area=Dao/040 on 21 May 2017) was the most omplex region; however, it has produced no significant flare activity. No Earth-directed CMEs were observed in available coronagraph imagery.

No proton events were observed at geosynchronous orbit.

The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit ranged from normal to high levels, with a peak flux of 13,000 pfu at 21/1710 UTC. Normal levels were observed on 15 May and moderate levels were observed on 16-19 May. In response to a negative polarity CH HSS, high levels were observed on 20-21 May.

Geomagnetic field activity was at quiet to active levels. Quiet to active levels were observed on 15 May. Conditions decreased to quiet to unsettled levels on 16-17 May under nominal solar wind conditions. A SSBC produced quiet to active levels on 18 May and quiet to unsettled levels on 19 May. The subsequent onset of a negative polarity CH HSS, with peak observed winds between 700-750 km/s, produced unsettled to active conditions on 20 May and quiet to unsettled levels on 21 May.

Forecast of Solar and Geomagnetic Activity 22 May - 17 June 2017

Solar activity is expected to be very low with a slight chance for C-class flare activity throughout the outlook period.

No proton events are expected at geosynchronous orbit.

The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to range from normal to very high levels. Moderate levels are likely on 01-10 Jun and 12-15 Jun; high levels are likely on 22 May, 27-31 May, and 16-17 Jun; very high levels are likely on 23-26 May. Elevated levels of electrons are in response to multiple, recurrent, CH HSSs. The remainder of the outlook period is likely to
observe normal background levels.

Geomagnetic field activity is expected to be at quiet to G1 (Minor) storm levels. Active conditions are likely on 22 May with unsettled conditions likely on 23-24 May due to the waning effects of a negative polarity CH HSS. Quiet conditions are then likely to prevail from 25 May-09 Jun under a nominal solar wind regime. An increase to active conditions is likely on 10-11 Jun from a positive
polarity CH HSS. Quiet conditions are again likely on 12-13 Jun. A SSBC is expected to cause unsettled conditions on 14 Jun. A subsequent negative polarity CH HSS is likely to cause active conditions on 15 Jun, G1 (Minor) conditions on 16 Jun, then active conditions as the CH HSS wanes on 17 Jun.

Monday, May 22, 2017

I.From the Isle of Music, May 21 - June
3
Cubadisco 2017, Cuba's largest and most important music awards
program (a combination of something like the GRAMMYs® and much, much more) takes
place during May, and we'll be away from the studio listening to Cuba's best new
recordings and doing new interviews. While we are doing that, our episodes
for May will be a combination of new episodes and some of the best of early 2016
for the benefit of our many new listeners.

May 21-27 is a
replay of an early 2016 episode with special guest Cuban Jazz singer Zule
Guerra, but also some 1970s Cuban Rock.

May 28-June 3 is a replay of an early
2016 episode featuring members of Conjunto Chappottin, one of Cuba's most
historically important conjuntos, as well as a mix of other Cuban music
genres.

Four possibilities to listen via
shortwave:1. For Eastern Europe but audible well beyond the target area in
all directions with 100Kw, Sundays 1500-1600 UTC on SpaceLine, 9400 KHz, from
Kostinbrod, Bulgaria (1800-1900 MSK)2. For the Americas and parts of Europe,
Tuesdays 0000-0100 UTC on WBCQ, 7490 KHz from Monticello, ME, USA (Mondays 8-9PM
EDT in the US)

Come June, we will begin to share the best of Cubadisco 2017 -
new music, new interviews, and of course the best of Cuba's recordings from the
past as well.

II. Uncle Bill's Melting Pot,
Thursdays Our musical mystery boxwith the rest of
the planet including the US and just enough weird (including a few laughs now
and then) to keep us from being confused with a generic World Music program. No
gravitas for us! We don't tell you what's coming up each week because the
surprises are half the fun and we mix things up anyway. Every Thursday from
2300-2330 UTC on WBCQ the Planet, 7490 KHz

Friday, May 19, 2017

According to the Shortwave Service website, the new relay RAE - Argentinien in die Weltrelay at 2100-2200UTC results in the Radio Belarus German relay to be moved to 2200-2400 UTC, and Voice of Mongolia in English to move to 0000-0030 UTC.http://www.shortwaveservice.com/index.php/de/sendeplan/3985-khz
(BDXC/Alan Roe, Teddington, UK)

AIR formally joins DRM Consortium, which hails its achievements in completing
phase one

NEW DELHI: Although All India Radio has been among the foremost
countries in the progress in adoption of digital radio mondiale technology, it
has now formally become a member of the DRM Consortium and its leading
bodies.

This fact was acknowledged in the recent DRM General Assembly
held in Switzerland, where the fact that several car models launched this year
in India are carrying standard DRM receivers was greeted with
interest.

All India Radio has successfully completed phase-I of the
national DRM digital radio roll-out. This involved the installation of 37 DRM
transmitters, now operational, throughout the country. Of these, 35 are medium
wave and 2 are shortwave transmitters. Both SW transmitters are for
international service and are broadcasting in pure DRM. Out of the 35 MW
transmitters, 2 are broadcasting in pure DRM, carrying two audio services in
digital; the other 33 transmitters are working in simulcast mode. Out of these,
25 MW transmitters are working for 1 hour in pure DRM every day (Monday to
Saturday). The transmission powers of these 35 transmitters are: 1000 kW (two),
300 kW (six), 200 kW (10), 100 kW (11) and 20 kW (six); two SW transmitters are
500 kW and 250 kW each.